'What is Stalin?' an Old Bolshevik asked Trotsky in 1925. After a moment's consideration came the reply: 'the outstanding mediocrity in the Party'. Trotsky's contempt may in part be explained by the wounds which his own pride had suffered from the growth of Stalin's influence among the party rank and file after Lenin's death in January 1924. On the other hand, not even Stalin's closest allies considered intellect and charisma to be among his greatest virtues - at least, not until the Stalinist 'cult of the personality', which, according to Robert McNeal, didn't really take off until 1933, four years after the consolidation of the Stalinist dictatorship.

LRB 7 July 1988 | PDF Download